Genesis Third Round Recap: Sunny Skies And A Play Stoppage
/We were primed for such a perfect day but the winds and gusts were too much. But so were the green speeds, which I wrote about here in The Quadrilateral.
Saturday’s 2021 Genesis was called due to wind gusts around 10:07 am and resumed after a four hour delay. Here was tournament director Steve Rintoul explaining what happened.
GolfChannel.com’s Rex Hoggard explains how it unfolded and shares some player views.
The forecast called for winds in the 10-15 mph range at 10 a.m. with the worst of the conditions not expected to arrive until 4 p.m., which would have been about an hour after play was scheduled to finish. Forecasts aren’t perfect, though, and as the field mulled around the iconic clubhouse searching for shelter, they weren’t looking for someone to blame so much as they just wanted to get back to work.
“It was just very extreme,” said Wyndham Clark, who was on the 16th hole when play was halted for the day for darkness. “We weren't to the really hard holes. I mean, seeing some of the pin placements and how they played after we went back out and how tough they were, it was definitely unfair I think earlier, for sure.”
Heading into Sunday’s 6:50 am restart and final round Sam Burns holds a two-stroke lead over Matthew Fitzpatrick and a three-stroke margin over Wyndham Clark, Dustin Johnson and Max Homa.
Clark is the most surprising given the loud grunt he let out on the first tee after tweaking his back during pre-round warm up exercises. Rex Hoggard here on Clark’s view that he might have withdrawn if not in such good position.
Fitzpatrick put on a wild show Saturday, with seven birdies in the 17 holes he played, as Daniel Rapaport notes here for GolfDigest.com.
Here was the leader Burns making an impressive birdie at the par-4 10th during more wind gusts:
Without fans and without play midday, we lucky few on site saw some things this tournament has not witnessed in its 95 years. A few of my photos:
Players and caddies lounge on the range during the play stoppage
Rain delay evacuation vans on a sunny day
Players and caddies wait out the winds including Francesco Molinari
After Play resumption, Patrick Rodgers prepares to use wedge from the 10th hole putting surface (He did)
